Contents Welcome to the fifth Sutton Who are we?……………………………………………………………page 2 Parents Forum Newsletter! What have we been up to this year?.....................................pages 3 — 6 We have included lots of interesting articles for you to Social care and their role in giving advice for an Assessment..…..page 7 read which we hope you will Local Area Review of Sutton by Ofsted and CQC………….pages 8 — 9 find informative. You will see a variety of events and Question Time………………………………………………………….page 9 activities, including Disabled Children’s Service Structure June 2018………..pages 10 — 11 specialist trampolining and Focus Surrey Saturday Club…………………...…………...pages 12 — 13 swimming sessions which we hope you will be able to Volunteering Opportunity at our Saturday club working with children with enjoy with your families. autism………………………………………………………................page 14 We are arranging specialist Sutton Mencap Community Day Service.……………..…………...page 14 cricket sessions for August Sutton Mencap Circles of Support……………………..…………...page 15 and will continue to update our Facebook page and Update from Get on Down’s!.......................................…………...page 15 website so do keep in touch 5 top tips to help manage behaviour……………………………….page 16 and share any news and The Relaxation Room…………………………………...…………...page 16 activities that other parent/carers will find DownsyndromeOK …………………………………………………...page 17 helpful. SPF Summer Holiday Swimming Sessions………………………..page 18 Although the Steering Additional Exclusive Activities from Everyone Active…………….page 18 Group are all parent/carers, we will do our best to An Update from Rosemary Brennan………………….……………page 18 continue to offer support Head2Head Theatre’s Peter Pan in a Pickle………...……………page 19 over the summer break so Neurodevelopmental pathways………………………….....pages 20 — 21 do email or leave a message and we will get The National Autistic Society Update………………….…………...page 22 back to you as soon as we Update on Sutton Information, Advice and Support Services…...page 23 can. An Introduction to Dominika Michalk…………………..…………...page 23 If you would like a coffee and chat, need some advice A farewell to Colin Pates………………………………..…………...page 23 or support or would like to Carshalton Environmental Fair 27th August………….……………page 24 borrow some resources, Rain or Shine — FREE Food Growing Drop-in Sessions………..page 25 including books, you are very welcome to pop in to Summer Family Cycling………………………………………..…….page 25 our office at Sutton Mencap. DSActive Multi-Skills Athletics Camp………………………………page 26 From September 2018, due Sutton Eagles Special Needs Football Training…………….…….page 27 to changes in personal circumstances, we will Sutton Carers Centre Update……………………………….pages 28 — 29 usually be available from SEN Team Casework Allocation……………………..…….pages 30 — 32 10am until 2.30pm Monday Summer Play & Stay 2018…………………………………….…….page 33 to Thursday but will always try to arrange to attend Sutton ASD Post-Diagnosis Parenting Course child and Adolescent meetings with parents Mental Health Services ……...……………………………………...page 34 outside of these hours, if Cognus Therapies: Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy possible. update……………...………………………………………………….page 34 We wish you a peaceful and Disability Badminton Session……………………………………….page 35 sunny summer! SPF Save the Date!…………………………………………………..page 36 1 Who are we? For those of you who don’t know who the Sutton Parents Forum are, we want you to get to know us! If you are the parent of a child with an additional need and/or disability and live in Sutton, you are automatically a member and welcome at all events. We aim to represent the views of parents and/or carers of children and young people with additional needs and/or disabilities in Sutton. We do this by organising consultation events, coffee mornings and Focus Groups which are promoted locally, posted on our website and Facebook page and mailed to families on the ICount register. The Steering Group members attend decision making boards, including the Disability and Transition Partnership Board, CAMHS Partnership Board and key workstreams set up after the OFSTED CQC Inspection this January. Sutton Parent Carer Forum is a member of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) and we also regularly meet up with neighbourly Forums, including Croydon, Wandsworth and Bromley to share experiences. The active Parent Forum members, including the Steering Group, are always happy to provide support to other parent/carers. We work actively with other stakeholders, including Sutton Mencap, to ensure families of disabled children and young people’s views are heard in Sutton. We support families, children and young people to identify positive outcomes through person centred planning. We provide help, support, information and advice, including completing CAF/EHAT forms, ICount registration, Freedom Passes, applications for financial support to charities, DLA and PIP. We can support you at meetings including Annual Reviews and school visits. We act as a named contact working with different services to help you navigate the system. We currently have a 100% success rate with DLA and PIP, some which have previously been applied for unsuccessfully by other groups. This work is funded by Trust for London. Our Parental Supporters have passed the Council for Disabled Children’s legal training qualifications and attend regular training courses, including welfare benefits entitlements with the CAB and effective completion of forms with the Local Authority. We will be completing IPSEA legal training in September 2018. Our Parental Supporters complete annual safe-guarding training and have enhanced DBS checks. 2 What have we been up to this year? We have had a very busy year arranging events and attending meetings, including the workstreams set up after the Local Area Inspection around quality of EHCPlans and advice, and also the recommissioning of short breaks and support services. Below are some of the activities arranged this year: Parent/Carer Participation and Consultation Events Cognus (Education Services) We ran 2 meetings in the Autumn term with Cognus, the Company commissioned by Sutton to provide education services including therapies, Information and Advice, the SEN team and the ASD Service. Adrian Williams, Interim Head of Education, attended these with the Managing Director of Cognus to explain the ‘spin out’ to parent/carers, update them on services currently provided and get your feedback of what is meeting. Neuro developmental pathway We ran the second meeting in October which was attended by parent/carers and practitioners; we discussed what a good pathway should look like working from the feedback from Meeting 1. There is now a multi agency Steering Group working on this and a pilot was rolled out in April 2018. Meeting 3 was held this June to enable practitioners to explain to parent/carers the work that has happened so far and there will be a further meeting in October to review both the pilot and the revised pathway. Please see pages 20 — 21 for a full report and our website www.suttonparentsforum.org.uk/consultations-2017/ for all the notes from the meetings. Focus Groups We have run Focus Groups on the draft SEND Strategy, the SEN Transport Consultation and the Sutton Carers Strategy to inform the Local Authority of parent/carer views on those proposals. January OFSTED CQC Local Area Inspection We hosted the Webinar at our office for parents and carers who weren’t confident taking part on their own, we contacted local support groups, including Focus Surrey, NASSutton, HELPP, Get on Downs and Downs Syndrome OK to attend the parent support meeting with Inspectors and also publicised and attended the parent carer open session with Inspectors. The Steering Group attended all the meetings during the week to be sure that your feedback and views was included. 3 Health café See Me, Hear Me, Support Me! was our participation event this May and was presented on behalf of the NHS Transforming Care Plan. The presenters commented that, “We really enjoyed meeting those present. We were inspired by the determination and passion of the parents and yet again saddened by the experiences families face when seeking the right support for their child.” The Transforming Care Programme should include Parent Carer Forums and we will prioritise this from September. Participation Survey 2018 We also compiled a Participation survey asking for your views on EHCPlans, short breaks, ASD/ADHD Services and Health. We have had 166 responses which have all been input and will compile a report on the results for publication in September which will also be presented to the Disability and Transitions Board to ensure Councillors and Officers are clear on your views. Information Events Renaissance Legal In October, Philip Warford, Managing Director of Renaissance Legal, ran a second session for us this time focussing on Power of Attorney, the Mental Capacity Act and Court of Protection. More than 40 parent/carers attended and we were joined by the Children with Disabilities Team and Social Care Transition Workers which made for a very enjoyable and informative morning. Welfare Benefits Workshop In November, we arranged another Welfare Benefits workshop, this time focussing on families with younger children with additional needs and/or disabilities. Thank you to Julian Clift, Welfare Benefits Manager for Sutton, and Steve Triner, CEO of Sutton CAB, who again provided an interesting but easy to understand session taking